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(SpeciniensJ 2 sheets-sheet 1. B. L. STOWE. KNITTED FABRIC.

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(Specimens.)

B. L. STOWE.

KNITTED FABRIC.

No. 393,185. Patente'd Nov. 20, 1888...

I mzeases:

N. PETERS PMltrLilMgnpher. Walhlngton. D C.

' both longitudinal strands and weft.

UNITE STATES PATENT FFICE.

BENJAMIN L. SIOXVE, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-FOURTHS TO J. VAN D. REED, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

KNITTED FABRIC.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 393,185, dated November 20, 1888.

Application filed October 9, 1886. Serial No. 215,763. (Specimens) To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN L. STowE, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Knitted Fabrics, of which the following is a Specification.

My invention has relation to that class of knitted fabrics having a weft and straight longitudinal strands. A knitted. fabric of this kind is old; and it has also been suggested to embody in such a fabric a plurality of sets of In the fabric which I have devised I also use more than one set of longitudinal strands and of weft; butand it is in this feature that I differ from what has been heretofore done or suggestedI employ for each of such sets of longitudinal strands and weft a separate set of knitting strands or warp.

Some of the advantages of my improved fabric are, that a suflicient amount of material may be employed to make a good wearingface upon the fabric without increasing the weight of the fabric to the extent that it is increased when the total amount of cord (knitting-warp cord) used in forming the surface runs entirely through from one face of the fabric to the other. The face of the fabric opposite that on which the looped stitches lie may also be worn away without serious injury to the balance of the fabric.

My improved fabric may have the looped stitches upon either one or both of its sides 01' faces, and if said fabric is in tubular. form they may be either upon the inside or upon theoutside of the tube.

The nature of my invention and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a portion of a tubular fabric embodying my invention, together with sufficient of the parts of a knitting mechanism to illustratein a diagrammatic way one mode in which the fabric can be made. It is to be distinctly understood, however, that I lay no claim here to the portions of mechanism thus represented, but that I reserve them and the machine of which they form part as the subject of another applica tion for Letters Patent. Fig. 2 is a horizontal cross-section of a portion of the fabric shown in Fig. l. The loops of'knittingwarp are in the left portion of this figure represented as still drawn out and upon the needles, and the topmostwei'ts are broken away at the point where the loops ceased to be rep resented as drawn out. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4 is a horizontal crosssection, of a modified form of tubular fabric. In these figures the plan of representation is similar to that followed in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively, save that in Fig. 3 I have not represented any portions of the knitting mechanism.

In the actual fabric the strands are packed closely together. In the drawings, however, they are represented as widely separated in order that the structure of the fabric may be more readily ascertained.

In the fabric shown in Figs. 1 and 2 there are three sets of longitudinal strands, (lettered, respective] y, (a aafl) four sets of weft, (lettered, respectively,b H1)" 19,) and four knitting-warps, (lettered, respectively, 0 c c 0*.) Two of the knitting-warps--viz., c and 0' forming one set-arelooped directly around the central longitudinal strand, a. The knitting-warp c is looped around the outer longitudinal strand, a, and the knitting-warp c is looped around the inner longitudinal strand, a Of the four knitting-warps, the looped stitches of the two a and 0 lie upon the interior, and those ofthe other two, 0 and 0, lie upon the exterior,of the fabric, it being seen that the knitting-warps extend-to varying distances into the body of the fabric, none of them, however, extending entirely through thefabric. This is the structure which on the whole I prefer where the fabric is to be used for hose. The looped stitches forming the outer surface may be of coarse yarns adapted to withstand the wear to which hose is subjected. The looped stitches on the inner face afford an excellent surface for holding a rubber lining, and the threads from which these stitches are formed will, in consequence of the manner in which they encircle the longitudinal strands of the inner plies, maintain the integrity of those plies, even if the outer ply or plies be worn away.

One way in which this fabric can be made is illustrated in Fig. 1, where w w are the inside and outside knitting-rings of a circular-knitting loom. a: 00 represent the sets of needles for said rings. y y/y" y represent the four weftguides, z z z 2 the four knitting-warp guides, and 1; one of the horizontally-reciprocatory feeders for seizing the loops, carrying them through the fabric, and depositing them upon the needles. The warp-guides and weft-guides are attached to and move with the revolving rings A, supported by guides B,and provided with annular racks O, which mesh with pinions D upon the driving-shaft E. Of the k nitting-warp guides, the two lettered z 2, which deliver the warps c c, (which form the looped stitches ,on the exterior surface of the tube,) are in a plane below that in which the other two guides, 2 2 for the inner warps, 0 0, are placed. The feeder 12 operates in a manner similar in a general way to the corresponding device shown and described in my application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 17 3,408, filed August 3, 1885, the difference being that while the feeder in my aforesaid application simply seizes a loop on one side of the fabric, carries it through to the other side of said fabric, and there deposits it upona knitting-needle, the feeder in the present instance takes loops from the interior of the body of the fabric, carries some to the inside and others to the outside, and there deposits them upon the appropriate needles. To this end it has a hook, the outer vertical face, h, of which extends down to or below the plane of the knitting-warp guides z z, while its inner vertical face, h, is shorter and extends down into the plane of the guides a a only, the two faces h h being connected by a slanting face, if, which, when the feeder moves inwardly, will ride over the warps c c.

In Fig. 1 the feeder is represented as moving inward. It has ridden over the warp 0, has engaged and is pushing before it a loop from warp c and is about to do the same thing with warp 0 Upon its return motion it will, in a like way,take and carry outwardly loops from the warps c c. As soon as the loops are deposited upon the knitting-needles, the latter operate in well-known manner.

It will be observed that in the fabric shown in Figs. 1 and 2 I employ one more strand of equal number of wefts and sets of longitudinal strands. This fabric differs, also, from that already described, in that there are but three knitting-warps, a 0 o and the looped stitches are all upon one face of the fabric-in this instance the exterior face. Furthermore, while the sets of loops of knitting-warp extend at varylng distances through the fabric, one set,'c, extends entirely through the fabric. ,To produce such a fabric upon a loom such as illustrated in Fig. 1, I omit one of the wefts and one oftheknitting-warps,and place thethreeguides for the warps c c c in the same horizontal plane, where their loops may be taken by the face h of the hook of the feeder when the latter moves outwardly. In the circularknitting loom, a portion of which is represented, each knitting-warp is supposed to be a continuous thread, its guide moving in a circular path, as also do the weft-guides. Looms of this general organization are well known; but in lieu of this continuous thread a separate warp knitting-thread for each needle may be employed; or a combination of the twothe continuous knitting thread and separate knittingthreads-may be employed, all of which will be understood without further explanation by one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains.

I do not desire to be understood as confining myself to knitted fabrics of the precise structure illnstrated,for, manifestly, the structure can be varied considerably without destrands, of a separate set of knitting-warp" strands for each of said sets of weft and longi tudinal strands, as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. A tubular knitted fabric having a plurality of sets of weft and longitudinal strands combined with a separate set of knitting-warp for each of said sets of weft and longitudinal strands, the looped stitches from some of the sets being upon the outer face and from others of the sets upon the inner face of the fabric, and extending to varying distances into the body of the fabric, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 7th day of October, A. D. 1886.

' BENJAMIN L. STOWE.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK A. STOWE, ALBERT P. MERWIN. 

